


Brand New Eyes

by AislingKaye



Series: Brand New Eyes [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Harry Potter - Fandom, Torchwood
Genre: F/F, F/M, Immortality, M/M, Multi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Sexual Content, Songfic, Threesome - M/M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-29
Updated: 2012-09-28
Packaged: 2017-11-15 06:07:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 11,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/523973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AislingKaye/pseuds/AislingKaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ianto Jones is not human - never has been, never will be. Harry Potter is dealing with his new immortality one death at a time. Jack Harkness is just Jack Harkness.</p><p>A series of songfics set in the universe of my current WIP, Dark Fae. There will be inconsistencies (this was written first) but the principle is there. Based on songs from the Paramore album "Brand New Eyes", with each chapter bearing the title of one song.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Careful

Harry glared at the ground as he slouched down the street, looking like a ten-year-old due to his tiny frame and the oversized clothes adorning it. Years of malnourishment and neglect had left him the size of a scrawny eleven-year-old or slightly large ten-year-old, despite the fact he was fifteen, almost sixteen, years of age.

This summer had been one of the worst since he started at Hogwarts. Sirius was dead, and he'd found out that the truth had been kept secret from him despite asking Dumbledore so many times to be told what was going on. Not to mention his uncle had been hitting him more often than usual – but that wasn’t as bad as the rest. He was used to the occasional punch or slap from his obese uncle – it rarely did more than form a couple of bruises which disappeared within three days.

Harry found himself at the park, and sat down on one of the swings to stare moodily up at the night sky. The frown on his face twisted, and he gave a deprecating laugh before looking down at his trainers scuffing up the dirt. Who would have thought the truth would trap him so nicely in the Wizarding World – even more so than his fame did? He would have to find a way to get himself out.

 

A full year later Harry found himself at the same spot in the park in Little Whinging, this time a bit less mopey and a little more determined. He would kill Voldemort, open the eyes of the Wizarding World, and then he would leave with his hard-earned freedom.

Harry still looked like a child from a distance, but anyone who got close enough would see the strength in his five-foot-nothing frame and the pain and darkness lurking in his emerald eyes. He'd changed a lot in the past year, and not just because of what he'd learned from Snape, Moody and Dumbledore (although he'd learned more from Snape and Moody than from the now-deceased headmaster).

A sharp crack nearby heralded the arrival of two Death Eaters, and a slow, cruel smile curved the underage wizard’s lips as they shot spells towards him intended to incapacitate only. This would be _fun…_

Harry held up a hand and the curses shot back towards the ones to cast them at double the strength, sending both men flying as Harry got to his feet and strode over to them. He ignored the one afflicted by a _Petrificus Totalus_ , hauling the Confounded one to his feet and punching him square in the jaw. The wizard staggered, flailing, and Harry stepped in closer to give a sharp uppercut to the man’s stomach. He collapsed with a wheeze, winded, and Harry stomped on his wrist hard enough to break it, relishing the scream the action tore from the Death Eater’s lips. The immobilised wizard was now making whimpering noises of terror, eyes wide beneath his mask, and Harry gave a deranged smile as he removed the hex with a wave of a hand.

“You will regret attacking me,” he hissed, and slugged the Death Eater in the jaw.

Five minutes later Harry strolled away, leaving both wizards in a twitching, whimpering heap in the middle of the park. Harry started to hum.

 

When the youth was gone, a suited figure moved out of the shadows he had been observing from, a curious look in his blue eyes as he eyed the fallen wizards and then looked in the direction the youth had gone.

That was interesting…very interesting indeed…

 

-BNE- 

 

“Ianto, we have a new recruit,” Jack said as the archivist entered the meeting room with a tray of coffee mugs. Ianto looked up, and both eyebrows rose as he took in the familiar young man seated to Jack’s right. “Ianto Jones, Harry Potter. Harry, Ianto.”

“A pleasure,” Ianto nodded with a faint quirk of a smile on his lips, and a smirk flashed briefly over Harry’s face as a knowing glint appeared in his dark emerald eyes. No one noticed their brief, wordless exchange. No one realised they already knew each other.

“Likewise,” the younger man replied casually, and Ianto nodded as he passed around coffee to the others and then took a closer look at the newcomer.

“You don’t drink coffee,” he stated, and Harry shook his head. “Tea it is, then.” Harry gave a half-smile and nodded his thanks, and Ianto went to make him some.

They both knew Harry wasn’t what he seemed, but that was alright because Ianto wasn’t either. They would just be careful not to let the others know just yet.


	2. Ignorance

The courtroom was full. Press, members of the public and members of the Wizengamot were all present, jostling each other and straining their necks for a look of the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Go-Dark. Harry Potter sat silent and proud in the chair he had been chained to, a look of distaste in his eyes despite his blank face at the noisiness of the courtroom.

“Order!” Amelia Bones demanded, a simple _Sonorous_ charm making her voice boom out over the chatter. The courtroom immediately became silent, and Madame Bones turned her gaze to the undersized eighteen-year-old in the stone chair before her. “Harry James Potter, you are here to receive your sentence for the charges laid against you.”

“Do I get to know what these charges are? I have had no trial,” Harry spat. “It seems the Wizarding World is making a habit of punishing without trial!”

“Your trial was held on the fifteenth of August, Mr Potter,” Madame Bones frowned down at the transcripts in front of her.

“On the fifteenth of August I was unconscious in St Mungo’s from various curses,” Harry growled. “Head Healer Lady Verve was the one to treat me if you don’t believe me, and Head Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt was the one to take me into St Mungo’s in the first place.”

“What he says is true,” Kingsley said calmly where he stood in the observation stands.

“I agree,” Healer Verve nodded as she also stood. “Someone must have forged the transcripts. Mr Potter had no trial on the fifteenth of August, and if he did he was not present to defend himself,” she added with a disapproving frown. Healer Verve was one of the most respected people in the Wizarding World, and her words had a lot of weight. Harry still did not relax, though.

“In light of this information, this case is closed. Mr Potter, you have my sincere apologies and my reassurance I will be looking into this matter,” Amelia Bones said curtly, turning a glare on her aide, who had been the one to give her the transcripts in the first place. Harry stood from the stone chair he had been in, the chains falling off as soon as Madame Bones said ‘case is closed’.

“Thank you, Madame Bones. Perhaps you will be the one to drag the Wizarding World out of its current state of ignorance.”

He apparated away.

 

Pacing angrily in his London apartment, Harry paused as he kicked his suitcase accidentally. He had been planning a holiday to Ireland, but perhaps he would go somewhere else instead. Perhaps he would move away from London…maybe to Wales somewhere. Yeah, that would work. He'd move to Wales and get out of this pathetic, fearful place. He'd move as soon as he could manage without leaving too many connections behind him.

Hopefully no one would find him for a few years to come.

 

-BNE- 

 

Crude and rather explicit curses resounded through the Hub, and as Toshiko blushed and Owen looked rather impressed Ianto looked up concernedly at where an irritated (to put it mildly) Harry was storming down with a piece of paper in his hands.

“Fucking traitors!” he raged. “Bastards!” Ianto caught Harry by the shoulder – making Owen curse quietly and Toshiko pale – and spun the irate man to face him. To the shock of all watching, Harry didn’t punch the archivist like he had Jack when the man had tried to restrain him once before when he was in these moods.

“What happened?” the Welshman asked, and Harry slumped, leaning his forehead against Ianto’s shoulder. Jack and Gwen were stunned; they hadn’t realised the two were so close or even friends really.

“They tried to get me sent to prison for attempted murder…again.” Toshiko and Owen exchanged shocked ‘WTF?’ expressions, while Ianto just wrapped an arm around Harry’s shoulders and gave him a half-hug. Jack felt a twinge of jealousy, but he wasn’t sure if it was because it was Ianto hugging Harry instead of him or if it was because Harry was getting a hug from Ianto when he could barely get a smile. “Luckily Bones realised the trial notes were faked, just like the last lot, and stopped the proceedings.”

“Who did it this time?” Ianto asked gently of the undersized twenty-six-year-old.

“Ron, Ginny and Hermione. Percy sent me a letter of apology from him, their dad and the rest of their brothers. Molly is backing the traitors.” Ianto shocked everyone by growling, anger clear in eyes, and Harry pressed just a little closer to the taller man to calm him down. It worked, and Ianto pressed his face into the top of Harry’s head briefly before letting him go.

“Do you need to go to London?”

“Nah, Amelia’s sending a couple of Kingsley’s best to get my statement. Mind being my witness?”

“Of course not,” Ianto shook his head. “Will my statement be valid though?”

“Yeah, legislation’s changed recently,” Harry nodded. “It was the least I could do to help Sanguini and honour Remus before I left.”

“Then name the time and place.”

“Thanks, Yan.”

They stepped apart and went about their duties, leaving the others to their confusion.


	3. Playing God

“Harry, you're being ridiculous!” Ginny snapped when Harry told her he was leaving England.

“Why would you wanna leave, mate?” Ron asked with a confused frown. “I thought we were gonna go through auror training together!”

“You're really being quite unreasonable, Harry,” Hermione nodded after giving a disapproving sniff to his original statement. Harry felt anger building inside him like none he had felt before. He was an idiot to think he was free just yet.

“What, can I not make my own decisions?” he asked furiously. “Why should I need your approval for something _I_ want to do?”

The three others were silent for a moment.

“You’ve changed Harry.” That was Ginny.

“Growing up and going through a war kind of does that to a person,” Harry snarled back.

“It's not just that,” Hermione shook her head. “You're acting like…like _Snape_.”

“And your point is…?” Harry trailed off, wanting an answer. His two _former_ best friends and his ex-girlfriend stared at him like he'd grown a second head and proclaimed his everlasting love for the colour pink (which _so_ wasn’t going to happen). Harry growled in irritation. “Never mind, forget I even came here.”

He spun on the spot and apparated to his apartment.

 

Sitting in a pub listening to the roar of football fans and the moans of defeat from those supporting the opposing team, Harry stared moodily at the bottom of his pint. He barely paid attention as someone took the stool beside his, but he did look up when they addressed him.

“The solution to your problem isn’t at the bottom of a pint,” the stranger murmured in his ear with a strong Welsh accent, and Harry’s vibrant green eyes met the electric-blue pair of a young-looking man in an impeccable suit. The energy about the man, however, was most definitely not human.

“No, but it makes me forget about the problem for a while,” he snorted, and downed the rest of the pint in one long pull. He set it down, nodded to the barman, and turned to leave. Without a word the non-human suit-wearing man followed him, unquestioning even when Harry turned into an alley.

He was not surprised when Harry pushed him up against a wall and kissed him thoroughly despite their height difference, instead kissing back without hesitation and drawing moans from the young wizard’s throat.

A few moments later Harry tugged the stranger as close as possible and apparated them to the bedroom of his apartment.

 

Harry yawned and stumbled out of bed, leaving his partner from the previous night sleeping as he tugged on some boxers and made his way towards the front door of his apartment where someone was knocking impatiently. He wrenched open the door with a sleepy glare, not impressed to find Hermione standing at his door at seven in the morning.

The witch gasped when she saw him, and after blinking the sleep from his eyes Harry glanced down and realised he was covered in hickeys and scratches from fingernails.

“Yes, I did get laid,” he sneered as he glared lazily up at the brunette witch. “What do you want?”

“I came to talk some sense into you,” Hermione replied haughtily, a righteous and better-than-thou expression on her otherwise pretty face. “You're really being quite selfish about all this—” she was cut off by the look of fury that formed on Harry’s face.

“ _Selfish_?” he snarled. “Granger, I spent all my life wanting nothing more than friends who wouldn’t turn on me, and instead all I got was family that hated me and an entire society who change their opinion of me at the drop of a hat. I sacrificed _everything I had_ for the wizarding world, and in return they tried to send me to Azkaban _again_ only three months ago! I think I deserve to be a little selfish and do something for myself for a change!” He made to close the door, and paused when it was half shut. “Oh, and if you want to see someone truly selfish, go take a look in the mirror.” He was so fucking sick of people playing God with _his_ life.

He ignored Hermione’s outraged shriek as he made his way angrily back to his bedroom, fuming. His partner from the previous night was awake and eyed him curiously for a moment before standing and striding over, turning the irritable wizard around and shoving him up against the wall as he tore the boxers from Harry’s body.

Soon Harry forgot all about his anger.

 

-BNE- 

 

“It's been a while since I last saw you,” Ianto commented as he leant against Harry’s workstation and raised an eyebrow. The wizard shrugged.

“A few years, at least,” he agreed. “I don’t really keep track of time anymore.”

“How did your…friends take it when you left?”

“Dunno,” Harry shrugged, leaning back in his chair and stretching. “Never bothered to find out. They didn’t support me like my real friends did, so I don’t care.”

“Fair enough,” Ianto nodded. “I never expected to see you here.”

“I didn’t really expect to be here.” There was a hint of lust in Harry’s voice, and Ianto felt his suit trousers grow tight. It was just the two of them in the Hub, as Jack had gone to take care of a lone rogue Weevil and the others were all at home.

Ianto let his eyes roam from Harry’s head to his toes and back up again, smirking when he noticed how much tighter Harry’s jeans were on the return trip. He met the wizard’s lust-filled green orbs with his electric-blue pair, and shrugged out of his jacket as Harry stood and stepped closer. A moment later Ianto was seated in Harry’s vacated chair with the younger man on his lap, their lips meeting in a fiery, passionate kiss.

Later Ianto commented that Harry was as tight as he remembered, making him blush deliciously for a minute and initiate a second round.


	4. Brick By Boring Brick

Victoire hummed happily as she played in the garden of Shell Cottage, giggling at nothing and spinning on the spot with her arms stretched up to the open sky. Mama didn’t believe her when she said there were fairies in the garden, because Mama and Daddy couldn’t see them like she could. Mama and Daddy thought fairies were the decorations Grandma used at Christmas. Victoire knew better.

“Victoire, Uncle Harry is here to see you!” Mama called, and Victoire waved goodbye happily to her friends before skipping up to the house with a bright smile on her young face. She loved her Uncle Harry, because he believed her about the fairies.

“Uncle Harry!” she cried, tackling the man in a big hug. Harry laughed – a carefree sound that Fleur and Bill only ever heard around Victoire or Teddy, much to their sadness – and hugged her tightly.

“Hello, princess,” he smiled down at her, stroking her strawberry-blonde hair off her face and kissing her forehead. “Have you been good since I last visited?”

“Uh-huh!” Victoire nodded her little head vigorously. Fleur and Bill smiled and nodded when Harry glanced at them discreetly to check, and the green-eyed twenty-three-year-old grinned as he pulled a doll from one of his pockets and passed it to the child. Victoire squealed happily at the little doll that looked just like her Mama, and hugged it tight with one arm as she buried herself in Harry’s embrace chanting ‘thank you’ over and over. Harry smiled and stood, lifting the five-year-old onto his hip and heading towards the door leading into the garden to give Fleur and Bill some time alone. He also needed to talk to Victoire about their mutual friends.

 

Down in the garden, Harry sat cross-legged opposite Victoire in a small circular glade within the grove of pine saplings.

“Victoire, your Mama and Daddy are worried,” the young wizard said gently, reaching out and stroking the little girl’s hair. She tilted her head to the side cutely.

“Why?”

“Because they can’t see your friends, and they think you’re unhappy,” Harry replied honestly. Victoire’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“But I am happy. I love Mama and Daddy and my cousins.”

“I know that, and you know that, but your Mama and your Daddy don’t understand.”

“You do, though, right Uncle Harry?” Harry ruffled her strawberry-blonde hair with a chuckle.

“Yes, I do, sweetheart. The fairies were my only friends when I was little, but I had an accident and couldn’t see them until after I finished school.” Really, he'd been Obliviated after the ‘fairies’ had killed a pervert trying to rape him, and as a result had lost all memory of the creatures as well as becoming rather jaded and thus unable to see them again. The memory blocks had broken after Voldemort died, and he had gradually begun to see them again. He'd been more than willing to go with them too, but again the Obliviate had changed that.

_“Come away, o human child,”_ the fairies gathered around them said in their strange collective voice, and Victoire shook her head.

“I'm happy here, I want to stay,” she said firmly.

_“Why? Why?”_

“Because I love Mama and Daddy, and Uncle Harry and Uncle George and Aunty Angelina and Uncle Percy and all my uncles and aunties and cousins,” the five-year-old informed them. “I want to stay with them.” Harry looked at the one closest to him, which was green and moved in a semi-wooden fashion.

“I would have come away with you, but I was forced to forget and to be blind to you,” he said gently, as if speaking to his adorable niece or godson. Really, these ‘fairies’ were just children too. “Thank you for saving me, but please do not take Victoire. I'm sure there are unhappy Chosen who will be more than willing to go away with you.”

_“Very well,”_ the fairies said grudgingly, and then dissipated into little lights to play with Victoire instead of taking her away from her family.

 

Harry told Teddy the story later, changing the names and making it seem more like a made-up story as he tucked the little metamorphmagus into bed. He kissed Teddy’s forehead and left the room, giving a small smile and a wink to the fairies watching over his godson for him. Teddy wasn’t one of the Chosen, but he was protected by the fairies nonetheless.

 

-BNE- 

 

_“Come away, o human child,”_ Harry heard as he wandered old Roundstone Wood, and he raced through the trees until he saw a man holding a young blonde girl protectively, seeming determined not to let her go.

“She isn’t sure!” he yelled, a definite hint of tears in the man’s vibrant blue eyes.

“Actually, she likely is,” Harry couldn’t help but blurt out, alerting the man to his presence. He held up his hands to show he had no weapons when the man made an abortive motion to grasp a rather old-fashioned pistol, moving forward and carefully extracting the girl from his hold, ignoring him as soon as he had done so. He knelt in front of the child, knowing her name instantly. “Hello, Jasmine.”

“Hello, Harry,” she said with a true smile. “They want you to come with them too, you know.”

“I know, but I can’t go anymore,” Harry replied, his own smile rather sad. “I'm too old now, too set in my ways and too damaged. I would have gone in an instant if I could when I was little, but now I would just hurt them.” He stood and held out his hand to the girl, who took it as the fairies flew down and landed near them. The man who had been trying to stop Jasmine from leaving looked like he was expecting an attack any moment, but they just crowded around the child and the undersized wizard, hugging them and stroking their hair and whispering for them to come away. Harry bent and hugged Jasmine tightly for a moment.

“You can still come with us,” the girl said, her voice already blending with those of the fairies. Harry shook his head.

“No, I can’t. I have too much to do here, too many people I care about. Go, and be happy.” He kissed her forehead and extracted himself from the group, stepping back as the fairies shrunk to little balls of light and surrounded the girl, the entire group fading out of this realm. Two tears ran down Harry’s cheeks and he wiped them away roughly.

“They said you could go with them, but you didn’t. Why?” the man asked, and Harry realised now that he had an American accent.

“Because I'm too damaged, mentally and emotionally, to be happy there now,” he sighed, running a hand through his wild hair. “Not to mention I'm too old. The moment I lost my childhood innocence I was no longer able to go without harming them. They're only children despite their age,” he informed the American with a sad smile. “They protect my godson like the powerful creatures they are, and play with my niece like the children they are. Nothing has a crueller mind than a child, hence the violence of the deaths of their victims,” he shrugged.

“You speak like you’ve seen it happen.”

“I have,” Harry shrugged, but didn’t elaborate. Instead he turned to leave. “See you around, maybe.”

“Wait,” the American called after him, and he turned back with a curious eyebrow raised. “Are you interested in a job?”

“Possibly,” Harry shrugged. “Who are you and what do you do?”

“I'm Captain Jack Harkness, and Torchwood is the organisation. We deal with things outside the government and far beyond the police.”

“Sounds interesting,” Harry replied, a smile curving one side of his mouth. “I'm Harry Potter, and if you still want to offer me a job in three days’ time then you can find me at Howling Wolf pub.” He walked away, apparating silently as soon as he was out of Jack Harkness’ sight.

Torchwood, huh? Well, to build a home you had to go brick by boring brick, but perhaps this particular brick would be a little more interesting than the rest.


	5. Turn It Off

Tossing and turning on his bed, Harry was trapped in a nightmare. He hadn’t had this particular nightmare in about five years, and he could no longer jolt himself out of it as he used to.

The nightmare was more a series of memories, stretched out over his later years at Hogwarts. First from finding out Voldemort was in his head, to the near-Kiss from the Dementors during the summer before fifth year. Then came the blood quill incidents and the Occlumency lessons, followed by Sirius falling through the Veil. Finding out the prophecy and smashing Dumbledore’s office was also part of the nightmare, but unlike in his memories there were shadows climbing the walls and crawling across the floor in an attempt to engulf him. The despair and depression he felt some days, followed by the urge to just end it and let Voldemort win. He'd wanted to turn everything off some days, and that urge was present in his nightmare. He tossed and turned through the memories of watching Dumbledore fall from the Astronomy tower, seeing McGonagall’s limp and Bill’s bleeding face, and watching as Snape gasped out his final breath while bleeding from his torn throat, memories leaving his mind in a trail of tears running down his cheeks.

Harry jerked awake with a gasp, his chest heaving as he gulped down the cool night air that brushed over his bare, sweaty skin. The dreams – nightmares – were just _wrong_ , in nearly every sense of the word. The only thing that was ‘right’ about them was how accurate they were.

He shuddered and scrubbed his hands through his hair, glancing at the clock and then at the date – 3am, 31st October. He groaned and buried his face in his hands, tired, worn out and annoyed.

Of _course_ it was bloody Halloween.

 

_Halloween 1983: Voldemort attacked, killed my parents_

_Halloween 1986: First beating from Vernon_

_Halloween 1987: First beating from Dudley_

_Halloween 1988: Almost raped by paedophile, lost memory of ‘fairies’_

_Halloween 1990: Vernon got drunk and almost killed me_

_Halloween 1993: Troll in the castle almost killed me_

_Halloween 1994: Nick’s Death-day party, first basilisk attack_

_Halloween 1995: Sirius attacked the Fat Lady_

_Halloween 1996: Name came out of the Goblet of Fire and Ron showed his true colours_

_Halloween 1997: First occlumency lesson_

_Halloween 1998: First training session with Moody_

_Halloween 2000: Almost sent to Azkaban for something I didn’t do_

_Halloween 2001: Andromeda was attacked by a wanna-be Death Eater and injured_

_Halloween 2002: Found out what Ron, Hermione and Ginny really think of me_

_Halloween 2003: Almost got framed for murder (again), and found John in bed with Mrs Next-Door_

_Halloween 2004: Died via rogue centaur arrow. Note – DYING HURTS_

_Halloween 2005: Got caught in a house fire while drunk. Note – burning hurts more than an arrow_

Harry groaned and dropped his pen, letting his head drop down onto the desk with a thump. Bad things always, _always_ , happened on Halloween, although they happened other days too. Halloween and May seemed to be bad times of year for him. He'd be asking for trouble if he went out today.

He let himself fall out of his chair and hit the floor with a thump, throwing one hand over his eyes.

Maybe he'd just stay here with the lights turned off.

 

-BNE-

 

“Bloody Halloween, the Rift always plays up on Halloween,” Owen grouched as he entered the Hub, a scowl on his face as usual. Harry gave him a deadpanned look.

“Trust me, your Halloweens cannot be any worse than mine have been,” he said dryly, turning back to his computer screen and cursing when the screen flickered warningly. He glanced over at Ianto. “Yan, do mind taking over for me for a while? I'm useless around computers while I'm this worked up.”

“Go on,” he told the wizard, giving him a firm push towards the stairs. “Get out before you blow something up.” Harry grinned cheekily.

“I won’t, that’s more of a Seamus thing to do. I just turn everything on its head,” he joked, and fled before the others could ask him what he was talking about.

Without Harry there to question, four pairs of eyes turned to Ianto. He answered their questions without said questions ever being asked.

“Harry was known at his school for doing the impossible and things never happening the way they should or did for everyone else. Seamus was one of his classmates who managed to blow something up that he was working on at least once a week outside of chemistry class and rarely had eyebrows because of it,” he said without looking up from Harry’s computer screens. “Halloween is a bad day for Harry and always has been, so he needs to work off some energy before he gets too jittery.” He lifted his head and raised both eyebrows at his co-workers. “Any questions?”

They all shook their heads and went back to what they were doing, wondering how Ianto knew Harry so well since they hadn’t met him until three weeks ago.

Ianto rubbed his eyes and looked back at Harry’s computer screen, wondering just how he had managed to get video files of Hogwarts onto the device. Sometimes he really hated working with a wizard as powerful as Harry.


	6. The Only Exception

Harry glared up at the ceiling of his apartment bedroom and then threw an arm over his eyes, feeling sick to his stomach as his mind went over what he had just seen. He'd finally thought he'd found his exception – someone who he could trust with his heart, and instead he had found them in bed with some slurry. Just like last time he'd trusted someone enough to sleep with them (other than that guy he'd met in the pub…)

A knock came at his door, and he thought about ignoring it.

The knock came again, and with a groan he pushed himself up to his feet and went to open it, really not in the mood for whoever could be visiting. He wanted to wallow in his misery alone for a change, instead of having people coming around and pretending they knew him well enough to understand how _angry_ he was.

Instead of finding one of the people he half-expected to be there, Luna Lovegood was standing on the doorstep with a big tub of ice cream in her hands.

“Hi, Harry. It’s vanilla and choc-chip,” she added, holding up the container and revealing that she had two spoons in one hand. Harry smiled at the blonde girl who was exactly his height, stepping aside to let her in and closing the door behind her.

They were sprawled on his bedroom floor together in seconds, digging into the ice cream.

“So why the visit, Luna?” Harry asked. Luna sighed.

“Millie was my girlfriend, Harry,” she said miserably. Harry froze, eyes widening. Millie, the woman he had caught in bed with Adrian, had been Luna’s girlfriend?!

“Oh, shit, I'm sorry, Lu,” he exclaimed, grabbing the girl in a tight hug. “God, we're both messed up today aren’t we?”

“Just a little,” Luna admitted, and leant into Harry’s side when he sat them up and leant back against the wall. They continued eating their ice cream in silence for a moment, drawing comfort from the sugar and each other’s presence.

“You know, I actually thought she loved me,” Luna whispered, big blue eyes filling with tears as she looked down at her toes. Harry wrapped his arm over her shoulders and hugged her to his side.

“I thought the same of Adrian,” he murmured. “Guess they fooled us, huh?” Both he and Luna gave bitter laughs at that, digging back into the ice cream. They ate in silence for a few more minutes.

“You'll find someone, Harry,” Luna said suddenly, looking up at the wizard she considered her brother and best friend. He met her eyes in confusion, his spoon hanging out of his mouth. “I know you will. You'll find someone to share your eternity with.” Harry put aside the ice cream and his spoon, and hugged Luna fiercely.

“Thanks, Luna,” he whispered. “You're a wonderful, gorgeous young woman and I know you'll find someone to make you happy.”

The rest of the evening was spent in a much lighter manner.

 

-BNE-

 

Ianto stared straight ahead with his face purposefully blank, breathing through his slightly-parted lips rather than his nose in an attempt to ignore the scent of blood coming from Gwen, Owen and Toshiko’s dead bodies. Harry was next in line, looking even younger than usual due to the lack of food causing him to be far too skinny. Not being able to die was all that was keeping Harry alive right now, Ianto knew.

“So, any last words, Harry Potter?” their captor asked from the TV screen, and Harry snorted.

“Plenty, you arsehole, but I think that there are ladies present it would be best if I don’t cuss you out like I had planned,” the young man sneered, and looked straight past the enraged man to meet Jack’s eyes. The immortal looked haggard and distraught, and Harry closed his eyes just as the gun over his heart fired. He fell to the ground while resisting the urge to scream in pain (getting shot with a bullet hurt even more than getting shot by an arrow), hearing everything that was happening around him even as his bleeding stopped and the wound healed. He kept his eyes shut and body limp, however, and waited for the fifth and final shot. He couldn’t do anything for the other three, but Ianto was harder to kill than a bullet through the heart and could fake dead just as easily as Harry could. He would just need some sustenance once he healed.

Ianto’s body fell to the ground beside him, and he opened his eyes just enough to check that the man had been shot in the torso instead of the head. It seemed they were in luck, for Ianto’s head was whole and unharmed bar the bruises and small cuts which came as a result of their captivity. Harry found himself relieved beyond compare.

He'd never told Ianto or Jack, but he truly thought he could love both of them with all his heart and soul. At least he had the chance now…as long as this wasn’t some twisted dream. Gods, he hoped it wasn’t a dream! He usually had a firm grip on reality, but still…

“I hate playing dead,” Ianto muttered without moving his lips, and Harry held in the semi-crazed giggle which threatened to escape him.

Yeah, this definitely was _not_ a dream. The random phrases Ianto churned out at the most unlikely moments were too witty to come from Harry’s imagination.


	7. Feeling Sorry

Luna sighed where she sat perched on Harry’s windowsill, swinging her legs daintily as she looked around in boredom. She had moved to Cardiff years ago, only visiting her best friend and brother in London and then later living half the time with her girlfriend Millie. Now Harry had joined her in the city, but she'd seen him a grand total of three times. She wanted to spend time with the man she considered her big brother, and yet she hadn’t been able to despite them living in the same town.

The door opened and the light flicked on, and Luna gave a small shriek of happiness as she threw herself across the room into Harry’s surprised form. He caught her automatically, stumbling just a little, and then laughed and hugged her back.

“Hey, Luna,” he chuckled as he drew back slightly. “What brings you here?”

“We live in the same town, and I've seen you less in the past year than I did when you were still living in London!” she huffed and scowled at him slightly. Harry looked a little sheepish. “Where have you been?”

“Here and there,” Harry admitted with a slight shrug. “I went and visited George and Angelina for a while up in Glasgow, and then stayed with Bill and Fleur for a while, and I just got back the other day from visiting Charlie.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” Luna demanded. Harry blushed at the twenty-three-year-old witch’s reprimand.

“Sorry, Luna, I was just travelling to clear my head a bit,” he said softly, and Luna’s aggression melted away. “I'm back now, though, and I swear you'll see more of me.” Luna smiled at him and nestled in close.

“Good,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Oh, and you get to explain to Percy and Audrey where you’ve been.” Harry whimpered. “I'm not going to be feeling sorry for you anytime soon. You should have told them – and me – where you were going.”

Harry nodded meekly, and decided to take his ‘sister’ out for dinner.

 

-BNE- 

 

“Fuck this,” Harry snarled, and sent a blast of pure destructive magic at the Resurrection Glove where it sat innocently on the table, which shattered it into pieces. Gwen and the others yelped and jumped, turning to where Harry was glaring at them furiously from the doorway.

“What the hell was that for?” Jack demanded.

“You were about to play right into the dead bitch’s hands!” Harry growled. “That _thing_ is unnatural and should never have been created, let alone used. It corrupts the one who uses it and if someone uses it on a dead person whose life force is compatible with their own then they’ll swap places!”

“Swap places?” Gwen echoed, looking unnerved.

“If you’d used it, you would have died of a bullet wound in the head and Suzie would be alive and as good as immortal,” Harry stated bluntly, arms folded over his chest.

“How do you know?” Jack demanded.

“Because I own the only genuine resurrection artefact and it is not that glove,” Harry grumbled, reluctant to reveal that little fact. It was bad enough they all knew about the Weevils’ reaction to him.

“Then how was it bringing people back to life?” Toshiko asked worriedly.

“I don’t know, I'm not an expert. I just know what I've been told by a reliable source. Anyway, I can bring her back until we get the answers we need, and then you can put her back in the morgue.”

“It seems like you aren’t giving us many options here,” Jack grouched, but reluctantly agreed.

 

A couple of hours later they had their results, and Harry had calmed down enough to explain a little more. Ianto stood behind him and slightly off to one side, a hand on his shoulder in support and reassurance as the young wizard wondered what to tell his co-workers. Jack had his arms folded and a somewhat stern expression on his face, and Ianto gave Harry’s shoulder a light squeeze. Harry glanced up at him, and the older man nodded down at him. Harry took a deep breath, crossing his fingers beneath the table. He had to lie or at least half-lie his way out of this.

“When I was younger, I came across three objects gifted by Death to humans. One was a cloak which renders the wearer invisible, one was an unbeatable ‘wand’,” yes, he had just used finger quotes, “and the third was a stone with the ability to summon the souls of the dead.” He could see the disbelief on their faces, but continued his tale anyway. “I came to own all three by chance – the cloak was passed down through my father’s family, the ‘wand’ belonged to my headmaster, and the stone came into my possession when I was seventeen. I snapped the ‘wand’ so its energy couldn’t be used, the cloak is in a bank security box, and the stone I wear in a ring so no one else can get hold of it. I used the stone tonight to call Suzie’s soul, but I hate using it.”

There. He had lied, but the lie was believable. The best lies were the ones told with barefaced bluntness and hints of the truth. Ianto gave his shoulder another squeeze as the others contemplated what Harry had said.

“Have you used it before?” Jack asked after a minute or so.

“Once, when I thought I was about to die,” Harry admitted. “I contacted my parents and my godfathers so I wouldn’t be alone when it happened.”

“Not since then?” Jack persisted. Harry shook his head. “Are you planning on using it again?”

“Of course not!” Harry snorted. “The souls of the dead don’t belong in this world, and personally I find it really creepy when they show up.”

Everyone relaxed, and Harry leant back slightly into Ianto as he lifted a hand and squeezed Ianto’s in thanks. A faint smile quirked the corner of the Welsh blue-eyed man’s lips for a brief moment, and everyone went their separate ways once more, determined to wrap up this investigation the right way.

 


	8. Looking Up

Harry grinned as he twirled Luna around the floor of the ballroom in which their classes were being held. Ever since returning from his travels, he had spent as much time as possible with his little sister despite the fact she now looked older than him. They had been taking ballroom lessons together for almost six months now, and enjoyed every moment of it. They were also helping teach the younger and less advanced classes, which Harry found he enjoyed as much as he had teaching the DA in his fifth year. He hadn’t felt this good since before he'd found out how Ron, Hermione and Ginny really felt about him. It hurt to realise that Ron had been bribed into staying his friend since fourth year, and that Ginny had wanted him only for his fame and money. Hermione’s betrayal he hadn’t understood and still didn’t understand, only that she was siding with Ron over him when Ron was the one in the wrong.

Luna placed her hand on his shoulder once more, distracting him from his melancholy thoughts as they moved through their Argentine Tango with grace and ease. Things were looking up for him now that he was living in Cardiff near his adopted sister, and he intended to keep things improving from now on.

 

On the walk home after dropping Luna off at her apartment, Harry was not expecting to be attacked. He was most certainly not expecting to be attacked by a strange humanoid creature with a twisted face and razor sharp teeth. However, despite not expecting it, that didn’t mean he was taken by surprise.

As soon as he registered the dark shape lunging for him, he had instantly gone on the defensive. A drop into a crouch and a snap of the hand upwards had his attacker grasped firmly, and a twist slammed the creature into the ground and winded it. It growled, and Harry snarled back as his animagus form took the vocalisation as a challenge. The creature instantly backed down, whimpering and whining, and Harry stood with his green eyes glaring down at it. It bowed and slunk away, still whining, and slipped down a manhole into the sewers.

“Weird,” Harry muttered, and shook his head before continuing on his way home, never noticing the tall and thin dark-haired man who gaped in shock from nearby.

 

-BNE-

 

Owen Harper had known ever since he met Harry Potter that there was something weird about the guy. There was also something familiar about him, which was even weirder since Owen was pretty sure he'd never met the guy before. It was really bugging him that he couldn’t figure out where he'd seen him before or why he seemed so strange.

It wasn’t until he was down near the Weevil cells at the same time as Harry that he realised what it was. As soon as Harry stepped in front of the glass, Janet backed away making a strange whining noise. Harry barely glanced at the Weevil, but when he did Owen was certain he saw a challenge in those strange bright green eyes.

And suddenly Owen remembered.

“You growled at a Weevil a couple of years back and made it back down,” he blurted, and Harry paused in mid-step to turn towards him with a slight frown.

“How do you know that?” he asked warily.

“I got sent out to capture it, but it got to you before I got to it,” Owen shrugged. “Saw you take it down and growl at it, and then it backed off. How’d you do it?”

“Magic,” Harry deadpanned, and smirked at Owen’s scowl before turning back to where they were going.

Harry wasn’t fond of the fact that Weevils avoided and feared him, but since it made his life and job easier he wasn’t about to start complaining. He'd found something he wanted to do that was worth doing, and he was just getting started. Anything that made his new life easier or better was worth fighting for.

 


	9. Where The Lines Overlap

Harry stood shirtless in front of his mirror, eyes following his fingers as he traced the tips over the many scars littering his chest. Each scar had a story, and where some of the raised lines of flesh overlapped so did their stories. The small starburst-shaped scar over his heart marked where the second killing curse had hit him, and around it in radiating lines was where an insane Rabastan Lestrange had attempted to cut out his heart. He'd succeeded, too, which had really, _really_ hurt. Luna had hidden him in her attic for a week while he regrew his heart, being the only person who knew of his immortal state.

Strangely enough, only some injuries scarred. For instance, the burns he had received from being trapped in a burning house while drunk had disappeared completely as soon as they had healed without leaving any trace they had been there, while the centaur arrow mark had left a tiny diamond shape just to the right of his left nipple. The scars criss-crossing his back were the result of his childhood, but the other wounds from his uncle – such as the words ‘freak’ and ‘unnatural’ once carved into his belly – had disappeared with his mortality.

“Harry, there's a heliopath on your back,” Luna said dreamily as she came up behind him, running her fingers lightly along some of the scars in an odd shape. Harry grinned at her in the mirror. He would never get used to how silent she could be sometimes, as she always managed to sneak up on him one way or another. He had given up trying to catch her – it wasn’t going to happen.

“I'm pretty sure that’s just my scars, Lu,” he chuckled, picking up his shirt and slipping it on over his head. His sister always knew how to cheer him up, even if it meant making random patterns and pictures using the overlapping lines of scars on his torso. “Come on, Teddy will be furious if his Uncle Harry and Aunt Luna aren’t at his eighth birthday party.” He held out an arm to the blonde, who took it elegantly and the two of them apparated together to Teddy’s party, hoping that Ron, Hermione and Ginny wouldn’t show up and ruin the day for everyone.

 

-BNE-

 

Jack stared with wide eyes at the two men who had just appeared out of nowhere on either side of the Master and gripped his arms tightly to stop him escaping or going anywhere, so relieved to see them alive since he could have sworn they died months ago. Then again, with the paradox machine destroyed…

Ianto and Harry looked very much alive, and rather annoyed if Harry’s scowl was anything to go by.

“You know, Yan, you were right,” Harry commented as he and Ianto disarmed the Master with ease and forced him to his knees.

“I usually am,” Ianto replied with a smirk, eyes gleaming brightly. “What was I right about this time?”

“No one is as lucky as us,” Harry snickered. “Seriously, that was never supposed to work.”

“Perhaps it is just because your luck seems to be behaving for a change,” Ianto said dryly.

“Harry? Ianto?” Jack whispered, and both men looked over to him and smiled.

“Hey Jack, you look like shit,” Harry said cheerfully, and then turned and glared at Lucy Saxon, who had a gun in her hands pointed at the Master. “Put the gun down, or you won’t like what I do to you if you shoot,” he said darkly, eyes flashing, and the blonde woman whimpered as she slowly did as she was told. Ianto eyed Harry appraisingly for a moment and then grinned.

“You’ve been practising,” he said finally, and Harry snorted.

“Duh. I do have fan-girls to keep away.” He shuddered dramatically. “Some of them are way too old for me.” Ianto muttered something that only Harry and the Master heard, for Harry blushed faintly and the Master looked startled. “Shut up, you.”

“Who are you?” the Doctor asked finally, and the two surprise visitors looked at him.

“Harry J Potter,” Harry shrugged.

“Ianto Jones,” Ianto said smoothly. “You must be the Doctor.” The Time Lord in question nodded, surprised. “So what is to be done with this one?” he asked, gesturing down to the kneeling Master.

“He'll come with me,” the Doctor said firmly, and everyone saw the Master’s scowl at that prospect. Harry and Ianto exchanged glances and then shrugged simultaneously.

“Fair enough,” Harry admitted, he and Ianto moving as the Doctor pulled the Master to his feet while keeping a firm grip on him so he couldn’t do anything to retaliate. “It's not our place to judge him. Even though I really want to,” he added in an undertone. “Getting shot hurts.”

“No one is about to disagree with that, Harry,” Ianto said dryly, rubbing his chest absently, right where Jack remembered the Welshman being shot. “And I hate playing dead.”

“It's annoying,” Harry agreed, then waved cheekily at Jack and gripped Ianto’s hand with the other. “See you back at work, Jack!” The pair disappeared with a crack, leaving Jack gaping at the spot they had just stood.

He needed some hard liquor to deal with this, unless his on-again off-again lovers suddenly decided to finally share some of their secrets.

 


	10. Misguided Ghosts

Harry tossed and turned restlessly in his sleep, tangling himself in his sheets so thoroughly that it was difficult to tell where the edges of the sheets were. It was three-thirty in the morning when he finally tossed and turned himself right out of bed, landing on the floor with a thump and a muffled groan.

He lay there on the floor for a long moment with his face squashed into the carpet, and then groaned a second time and pushed himself up onto his feet. After a bit of tricky manoeuvring and inelegant flailing, Harry managed to untangle himself from his sheets and tossed the offending linen back onto his bed.

He scrubbed a hand over his face tiredly and rolled his shoulders, scowling at his reflection visible through the open bathroom door. He was still only about 5 feet tall, and it was starting to _really_ piss him off. People kept mistaking him for a child, and he was a good twenty-five years old. There had to be a potion or something that could make him a little taller – he'd be happy to be just five foot three, to be honest.

Maybe he should travel…he hadn’t been this bored and jumpy for years, and that jumpy boredom had disappeared during the travel looking for Voldemort’s horcruxes. If he got lucky he might find something to make him taller, which would be good.

Making up his mind, Harry packet a bag quickly and dressed, penning a note for Luna which was left on the kitchen counter. As soon as he was sure he had all he would need for his travels, he closed his eyes and apparated to the furthest point away from England he had ever been.

 

Luna searched Harry’s apartment for ten minutes before she saw the note sitting innocently on the bench in the kitchen. After making an irritated noise in the back of her throat she opened it, her blue eyes scanning the page before her entire face softened into a gentle, loving smile.

 _Luna,_ it read,

_I'm going away for a while to clear my head. I'm hoping I'll also find a way to grow a bit taller – I'm getting a bit pissed off at being so short (no offence intended, sister of mine) – but I'll be back as soon as possible whether I grow or not. Give the family my love._

_Harry._

Luna sighed and shook her head fondly, folding the note and slipping it into her jeans pocket.

She trusted Harry when he said he'd be back soon. Maybe he'd get lucky and grow a bit taller, too.

 

-BNE-

 

A shot rang out in the otherwise silent hub, jolting Jack out of his uneasy sleep. He tugged on his trousers and hurried up the ladder from his bunker to his office, sticking his head out of the door and searching for the source of the shot. His eyes widened when he saw an unfamiliar blonde man lying bleeding on the floor, Ianto and Harry both breathing rather heavily and pointing handguns at him from where they stood side by side. Ianto’s free hand was wrapped almost possessively around Harry’s waist, holding the shorter male flush against his body with Harry’s back to Ianto’s chest.

“What the hell is going on here?” Jack demanded, and Harry’s eyes flicked up to him even as Ianto kept his gaze on the stranger.

“This bastard tried to alter my memories,” the green-eyed young man said bluntly, scowling at the bleeding figure. “I hate it when people mess with my mind.”

“You and me both,” Ianto grunted, glaring down at the feebly-moving blonde. Jack now noticed that there were two bullet holes in the stranger’s torso, and realised that Ianto and Harry must have fired at exactly the same moment.

“Who and what is he?” Jack asked warily.

“Dunno who, but he's an echo,” Harry scowled. “He should be dead by now, from blood loss if nothing else.”

“He was created from strong emotional attachment to memories,” Ianto stated coldly. “I have encountered his kind before. To destroy him, we have to forget him.”

“Ret-con,” Harry sighed. “I hate losing memories. My mind’s twisted enough as it is.”

“You're not the only one,” Ianto muttered, and shot the stranger in the head before finally looking up at Jack. “You might want to start shielding before you go to sleep, sir,” he said formally. “We can’t afford for this to happen again.” Jack nodded silently, still shocked, and then shook himself out of it to help his lovers clean up the mess.

 


	11. All I Wanted

Harry sighed as he found himself back in the UK, wondering why he even bothered trying to get away when he just ended up back where he had started. Admittedly this time he was in Scotland on some lonely green hilltop instead of in his apartment in Wales, but he was still on the same bloody island. He'd been gone three months, and had found a witch-doctor in Peru who had stretched him just enough to bring him up to five-foot-four. It had been painful but it worked and he was enjoying being a full four inches taller than he used to be. However, he was still travelling and still restless, wanting something… _more_ than what he had seen.

A sudden wailing of a klaxon and a sort of groaning noise from behind him had him turning in shock, and his jaw actually dropped open when a blue police telephone box (of all things) flickered into view. Then he snapped his mouth closed and shook his head fiercely. After everything he'd seen in the magical world, this should really not have too much of an effect on him.

Once the blue box was fully visible and solid, the door was flung open and a young brunette man staggered out, collapsing only a few feet from Harry and gasping for breath. It took him a moment, but Harry realised suddenly that he was crying – great big heaving sobs which wracked his skinny frame. Harry moved closer cautiously, pausing a short distance from the man and reaching out carefully.

“Hey, what's wrong?” he asked, and almost flinched as the man jerked backwards suddenly, hazel eyes wide. Said hazel eyes widened further when he saw Harry, causing the man to frown a little. “Are you alright?”

“Been better,” the stranger admitted with a half-hearted laugh, rubbing at his face with the sleeve of his blazer to dry his tears. “Want to travel with me?” Harry shrugged.

“Eh, why not? I'm getting bored of ending up in the UK before I'm ready.”

 

Teddy and Victoire tilted their heads to the side simultaneously, causing all chatter around the Weasley family’s Christmas table to pause as the two children turned their heads and looked up towards the stars.

“Teddy, Victoire, what is it?” Luna asked gently from her seat beside Neville and Andromeda, and the two children turned their faces towards her in that same uncanny synchronicity.

“Uncle Harry is travelling the stars and time,” Teddy smiled.

“He still thinks of us when he's out there,” Victoire added sagely, sounding much older than her seven years.

“Oh, did he meet someone to travel with, then?” Luna asked as if this was not at all surprising or even worrying.

“The Doctor will keep him safe and bring him home,” Victoire and Teddy stated together, and then returned to their meals as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Luna smiled in her absent, dreamy way, and giggled quietly before she started to hum a song none of the others had heard before.

She knew Harry would come back, even if it took him years. He was too stubborn to not return.

 

-BNE- 

 

Ianto paced the apartment he was sharing with Harry, a worried frown on his face as his green-eyed lover watched him from the couch. Finally, after a full twenty minutes of non-stop pacing, Harry reached out and tugged him down beside him on the couch. Ianto was startled, giving Harry the opportunity to pin him to the rather comfortable piece of furniture by straddling his lap and holding down his hands.

“Enough of the pacing, Yan,” he said firmly. “Jack will be back soon, you know he will, and then we can tell him exactly what we think of him disappearing without even leaving us a note.” Ianto couldn’t help but smile at Harry’s words, using the younger man’s grip on his wrists to pull him in close and plant a kiss firmly on his lips. Harry made a noise of surprise, but then returned the kiss with a small smile as he relaxed against the larger man and hummed softly in contentment.

“All I want is to have the two of you safe by my side,” Ianto murmured into the top of Harry’s head after their kiss broke and the wizard nestled closer. It was rare for Harry to be so… needy, for lack of a better term… but he relished it when the wizard let down some of his barriers and let Ianto cuddle with him.

“Yan, you know Jack and I can’t die,” Harry sighed into his collar. Ianto rolled his eyes.

“Not dying and being safe are two very different things, Harry,” he said dryly, and Harry snickered at his tone. Ianto lifted Harry’s chin and tenderly kissed his lips again. “All I want is you and Jack beside me for as long as you'll have me,” he whispered. Harry smiled up at him.

“You won’t get rid of either of us easily, Ianto Jones.”

 


	12. Decode

As much as he loved travelling with the Doctor and his friend-slash-enemy the Master, Harry knew it was about time for him to go home. He'd been travelling in the TARDIS for about a year linearly, and had helped the Doctor find the only other Time Lord still alive.

It was amazing what a point-me spell could do when given a goal other than ‘north’.

Now, however, he was feeling homesick and wanted to be back in Cardiff with Luna and all the odd happenings he had grown used to in the short time he had actually lived there. It was so tempting to stay with the Doctor and the Master, but he had to get back to his mismatched family. He knew he had to go home, and he wanted to go home, but it was so, so tempting to keep travelling with the Time Lords in the blue police box TARDIS.

“You have a dilemma,” the Master stated as he took a seat beside Harry in the kitchen. Harry rolled his eyes a little, a smile twitching the corner of his mouth.

“No shit, Sherlock,” he said sarcastically, but then slumped and sighed. “What gave me away?” The Master snorted.

“You forget the TARDIS has a telepathic link with you as well as with Theta and I,” he said dryly. “You want to go back to Earth, but you want to stay.” Harry nodded and stared down at his mug of tea, frowning and biting his lip. “I'll tell you a secret,” he added, and Harry looked up at him. “I met you in your future, my past, back on Earth. You need to be there or it will create a paradox.”

Harry blinked and then stared at him.

“Damn, you're good,” he said bluntly, and then drained his mug. “Well, looks like it's time to head back to good old Cardiff for me.” He walked out of the kitchen, leaving the Master sitting in the kitchen with a contemplative look on his face.

Harry had such old eyes for his young face…was he really even human?

 

-BNE-

 

Toshiko sat miserably in the Hub, feeling worse than ever before after Gwen’s supposedly consoling words for the whole mind-reading thing. She was so lost in her misery that she didn’t notice Harry and Ianto sitting down beside her until they wrapped an arm around her each. She jumped, and then relaxed when Harry gave her a gentle, reassuring smile, his green eyes kind.

“You were coerced, Tosh,” he said softly. “There is a strong compulsion to wear that pendant, one that even I had trouble resisting when we were putting it into the archives. Ianto can vouch for me when I say I'm one of the most stubborn individuals out there,” he added with a small smile, and Ianto’s warm chuckle from Toshiko’s other side reassured her immensely.

“Why couldn’t I hear you?” Tosh blurted after a moment, and Harry grinned. “I'm serious! I could hear everyone except you and Jack. Both of your thoughts were impossible for me to decode.”

“I don’t know about Jack, but I spent time around telepaths when I was younger. I learned to build up mental shields to prevent anyone from reading me,” Harry assured the young technician. Toshiko nodded and accepted that, although she did wonder how he could have done so. Then she recalled something else and turned her head to look at Ianto. He raised an eyebrow in query, and Tosh found herself blushing in shame. Ianto gave her a gentle squeeze.

“What do you want to know, Tosh?” he asked softly, and Toshiko gathered her courage to ask.

“Why are you so hungry all the time?” she murmured, and Harry growled from her other side. Toshiko flinched, but then realised belatedly that he was glaring at Ianto and not at her.

“I thought I told you to let me know when you get too hungry!” he snapped, and Ianto ducked his head sheepishly.

“Sorry, I was more focused on making sure I had done everything,” he admitted, and Harry sighed.

“That’s it; I'm making sure you eat tonight. Thanks for letting me know, Tosh,” he added with a wink to the startled woman, making her smile. “Now, I think it's about time you went home. Get some sleep and we'll see you tomorrow.” Toshiko smiled and nodded; standing and feeling much better she gathered her things and left the Hub.

 


	13. Brand New Eyes

Harry strolled along the streets of Cardiff, one hand holding onto that of his godson and the other linked with Luna’s as the blonde woman carried a sleepy Victoire on her hip. Harry had offered ten times (at least) to carry the little girl seeing as he was bigger and stronger than petite and delicate Luna, but the blonde woman had shaken her head each time and assured him she was strong enough to carry her niece.

“Uncle Harry, can we stop and get some ice cream?” Teddy asked with wide amber eyes peering up at him from beneath messy blonde-brown locks. Harry practically melted under the onslaught as Luna and Victoire added their pleading blue eyes to Teddy’s amber pair, and sighed as he ruffled his godson’s hair.

“Oh, I suppose so,” he said in a long-suffering tone, grinning when Teddy and Victoire cheered happily. Luna laughed delightedly and set Victoire on her feet, grabbing hers and Teddy’s hands to run ahead of Harry to the nearby ice cream shop. Harry followed at a more sedate pace, a small happy smile on his face which always appeared when he spent time with his godson and eldest niece. It might have been only four months for them, but for him it had been over a year since he last saw them and he had missed them so much.

In the ice cream parlour Harry ignored the disapproving looks he was receiving from some of the middle-aged mothers as he ordered and paid for his and his family’s treats, smiling warmly at the elderly man behind the counter before ushering the two children and his sister over to a booth.

“Uncle Harry,” Victoire began in her adorable French accent, and Harry felt a faint sense of satisfaction as the eavesdropping mothers looked startled and surprised. They'd likely thought he was hers and Teddy’s father and was far too young to have two children their age. “Mama thinks you're a bad in-flu-ence on me and Teddy,” she said rather matter-of-factly.

“Teddy and I,” Harry corrected absently. Then he registered what she had just said and gaped at her as Luna and Teddy giggled behind their ice cream at his expression. “Wait, what?” he choked out, and Luna patted his back in a mock-consoling manner.

“There, there, Harry,” she soothed. “I don’t think you're a bad influence on these two little monsters.”

“Yeah, but Aunty Fleur thinks _you're_ loopy, so she won’t listen if you tell her that,” Teddy piped up. Luna giggled.

“She always has,” she replied cheerfully. “Isn't that right, brother of mine?”

“Unfortunately,” Harry sighed. “You never do anything to disprove her, though.”

“Of course not,” Luna said dismissively, waving her spoon. “That way she’ll always underestimate me.”

“What did you do that made your Mama think I'm a bad influence?” Harry asked Victoire, who shrugged innocently. Too innocently. “Victoire Weasley…”

“I coloured her hair pink by accident,” Victoire admitted, and Luna and Teddy giggled again.

“Victoire!” Harry was flabbergasted.

“Teddy ‘elped!” the little girl said defensively, dropping her ‘h’ by accident, and Harry’s stare turned to the now protesting little boy.

“Theodore Lupin!”

“I only asked Uncle George for the dye!” the little metamorphmagus yelped. “I didn’t help her actually do the prank.”

“And why isn’t your Uncle George getting blamed?” Harry asked, and both children ducked their heads. “Teddy, Victoire, don’t make me tickle you,” he threatened, and the children eeped before mumbling an answer. “I'm being serious!”

“We might have told Aunty Fleur that we got the idea from you,” Teddy admitted.

“You told them you dyed your teacher’s hair blue, remember?” Luna piped up, and Harry scowled at her.

“Not helping, Luna,” he said flatly. “And that was a complete accident!”

“So was this,” Victoire and Teddy chimed, and Harry groaned as he dropped his face into his hands.

“Bill and Fleur are going to kill me,” he moaned, and Luna winked at her niece and nephew.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Harry! Aunty Fleur and Uncle Bill won’t kill you,” Teddy piped up brightly.

“Mama will just yell, and Daddy will only maim you like ‘e said ‘e would to my boyfriend if I got one before I turn thirty!” Victoire added just as brightly. She was far too intelligent for a girl her age. Harry whimpered, and Luna giggled even as she patted his back soothingly.

The various mothers around the store had heard the entire conversation and were hiding their smiles and laughter. The poor young man was being ganged up upon by his elder sister and his niece and nephew for some reason.

“This is payback for going away for so long, isn’t it?” Harry whined, and the three with him responded simultaneously.

“Yep!” they said brightly, and Harry groaned as he dropped his face back into his hands. Gods and goddesses save him from the whims of his sister, niece and godson.

“I'm so dead.”

 

-BNE-

 

“Hello, anyone there? No, because there phones aren't working!” Ianto said irritably as he threw his hands up in the air, only for the Hub to suddenly echo with the sound of a cellphone ringing. Harry grinned sheepishly as everyone turned and looked at him, and he pulled a phone from his pocket and answered.

“Hey, Victoire, what's up?” he asked. “Whoa, sweetheart, slow down, I can’t understand when you talk that fast. What's wrong?” He listened for a moment longer, face becoming grave. “Just hold on, sweetie, I'll be there as soon as possible, alright? Keep close to Teddy and stay where you are. I'll be right there. Love you, sweetie.” He looked back at the others with solemn features as he turned off his phone and put it in his pocket. “I need to get to my niece and godson.”

“What happened to them?” Ianto asked with a worried frown – he adored Victoire and Teddy.

“They were with Luna at the bank when it exploded. She shielded them and is unconscious now, but the kids are awake and they're all alive. I need to get them out before they run out of air.” Harry was clearly worried, tugging at his hair and frowning as he shifted impatiently on the spot.

“Go, Harry,” Ianto urged. “We'll be fine here.” Tosh and Owen nodded their agreement, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, guys,” he said gratefully. “I'll be back as soon as I get them back to their parents. Good luck with the sleepers.” He raced towards the cog door and left as fast as he could, apparating to the exploded bank as soon as he reached the tourist office.

 

-BNE- 

 

You must be ready

Look around with brand new eyes

Everything’s changing


End file.
